OhForAGreavsie

Ucking ek! Presumably, since the new rule is not yet in place, this means we can now extend the remaining amortisation of his fee even further. Unless the announcement of the new rule included a provision preventing this, we can look forward to twitter squealing if we do reduce his annual cost some more.

Ah, I misunderstood.

At the time most argued with my alternative suggestion for who to leave out instead.

He should definitely have been in the squad. His omission was clearly an error, but we are where we are.

Well at least that simplifies the tactical situation for the remainder of the game. At some point soon we will need Mudryck for one of the top two top two.

Don't believe it has anything to do with the injury. He is not, and was not ever, quick.

Have you watched him? I've been correcting people on this misapprehension ever since his academy days. He is not quick which shows itself in both directions. He can burst past a defender when he is on the run and the defender static, but if they are both static, or both on the run, he will always check out and go back. He knows his limitations pace wise.

As stated 4 months ago.

I don't agree. I felt we were generally poor in the first leg.

Possibly, but they look way short of their best this term. Arsenal thoroughly outplayed us at The Emirates despite the fact that we stole a point. They outplayed us at Kingsmeadow in the cup game but we made our chances count and won. They made us look a very, very ordinary side at Selhurst Park in the League Cup Final. Lyon were not able to do that to us in either leg of the quarter-final but Man City did four days before. It isn't even just the blue half of Manchester because Utd were comfortably the better side in the recent league game at KM though we were severely hit by injuries that day so maybe we shouldn't count it. I've felt for a long time that we are not as good a side as we should be. We have the medals to show that we have been better than the domestic opposition but they have all progressed while we have not. A refresh is necessary I feel and, personally, I'd be ok if that was guided by a new manager.

I've reached a controversial opinion. It's time to look more critically at Emma Hayes. She has won a lot but her team has been stagnating, while others are improving. Too many of her buys sell the club short in that they are not the cream of the crop players we should be looking at.

An exhausting night of drama at The Bridge:

Last time at The Bridge for CFCW:

A record number of tickets have been sold for a women's Champions League game at The Bridge ahead of the quarter-final second leg on Thursday. Tickets still available.

Well they definitely had an impact so there can be no ifs or buts about it. The FFP targets must be adjusted to factor in those impacts.

I've seen him play for the development squad. Looked capable and busy, staying involved in the game and communicating with the defenders constantly. It looks like he gladly accepts the 'senior pro' role with the young lads around him.

Not yesterday sadly. Day started badly when the supporter coach was over an hour-and-a-half late, followed by the driver having to take a mandatory 45-minute break at the motorway services stop. All of which meant some Blues fans missed kick-off. Then the day got worse (Lost 2-0). In truth, our form hasn't been great for a while so when you throw in 5 games in 19-days, injuries, and a third straight big away fixture, it was always going to be a tough result to get. On to Thursday night at The Bridge, when the girls will attempt to reach their third Champions League semi-final in five seasons. They lead European Champions Lyon 1-0 after the away leg. Tickets available here. Could be a good chance to check out the hospitality seats, without having to pay the exorbitant prices charged normally.

Congratulations to Harry Kane on setting the new all time England men's scoring mark. He is an outstanding player. I maintain that his headed flick to make it 1-1 in the 2017 FA Cup Semi-final against us is one of the best finishes I've ever seen. It was genius. Speaking of genius however, I want to compare Kane's international record with that of the greatest English striker ever, James Peter Greaves. Kane now has 54 goals for his country, compared to Jimmy's 44. Harry has played 24 more games than Jimmy did (81 vs 57). An extra 10 goals in 24 more games is not too shabby, but the real stat that sets the players apart is that Harry has netted 18 times from penalties at international level, while Jimmy scored; none, nada, zilch, zero. Exclude those 18 penalties and Harry would still be eight goals behind Jimmy, despite those extra 24 appearances. Kane is averaging 0.44 non-penalty goals per appearance for England. At that rate it would take him 18 more caps to catch Jimmy. and that would take his total number of caps to well over double Jimmy's number. Jimmy Greaves was a remarkable footballer. He was his nation's designated penalty taker for several seasons, but England were not awarded any spot kicks while he was on the pitch. He did score 19 pens at club level however. 19 taken, and 19 scored. Jimmy never missed a penalty. I don't deny that there is a very good case for regarding Super Frank as Chelsea's greatest ever player but, for me, Jimmy takes that honour, Eden is second, and the other places are up for debate. I give high praise to Harry Kane, but he'd be the first to admit that he's no Jimmy Greaves.

March fixture list update

Women's Champions League Quarter-Final First leg, Lyon vs Chelsea. Live HT: Lyon 0-1 Chelsea, (Guro Reiten) FT: Lyon 0-1 Chelsea.

I'm really not sold on Noni, but Hakim and Chris have got to go. They are serving no purpose in the squad, and being here is serving no purpose for them.

🙂🙂 Was a perfect introduction to The Blues; away at Highbury, in the boys section, FA Cup quarter-final replay, 63,000 in the ground, 40,000 locked out according to the police. Chelsea go one up. I'm ecstatic, rubbing my blue silk scarf in their faces till one of 'em, who had to be over the age limit, turned and said, "Ok, you've had your fun that's enough now." I didn't argue! They get a stonewall penalty that the ref refuses to give at first but they surround him and some how persuade him that it was a free kick outside the box. That just makes their protests louder, and even more of 'em get in his face so he talks to the lino who explains to him that it was in fact miles inside. Alan Ball slots it away and they go on to win 2-1. The biggest memory though was right at the end. I was absolutely crushed, just devastated that we lost. The Chelsea players just walked off though, and that really hurt. I wanted them to look as gutted as I was feeling but they just strolled away like it was another day at the office. I suppose it was for them, but that was hard for me to take.

Happy anniversary to me! Tomorrow, 20th March, will be the 50th anniversary of my first Chelsea game. If you happen to be going to Reading I might treat you to some chocolate and ask you to celebrate with me. If not, I wasn't really in a celebratory mood yesterday, but here's to another 50 years eh?

What will be the market for Osihmen? Can any Italian club fork out that kind of money, and will Osihmen want to continue in Serie A anyway? Bayern could afford that type of fee, but will they bin their anti-big fee philosophy? Real have every reason to renew Benzema but, in any case, is Osihmen their man? Will they spend big for him and for Bellingham in 2023? Can Barca afford an Osihmen sized outlay, even with a return to the Champions League? City are sorted, and Liverpool are committed to Nunez. Paris could only come to the party if they move Neymar, and who is going to pick up €38m a season for his contract? Arsenal could be interested but Jesus's returns before his injury might tempt them to stick rather than twist. Newcastle have the money but do they have the pull yet? I think Utd will be interested but who else will be, other than us?

My cards have been on the table about Joao from the start but if the club want to buy him anyway, surely they won't pay £80m. I said when the loan was being rumoured that, in my opinion, he had never shown returns to justify the money Atleti paid. Well, I don't think he has justified £80m either. The quality is there, but quality matters only in as much as it helps a player to be effective. In what we've seen across his career so far, Joao has not been effective enough, often enough.